Hong Kong’s Tiger Tutors

Lots of people have probably heard me joking about the asian stereotype of studying all the time. If you’ve got some free time, then I’d encourage you to watch this documentary.

Admittedly it is somewhat exaggerated and of course this sort of experience isn’t universal (so don’t go around talking to everyone from HK as if they did go through all those), but certainly it’s representative of the experience of lots of people. It also gives you an idea why I dislike the tutorial system in general. It’s not that it doesn’t help people, but rather that it should be a necessary component of the education system.

All that sad, having not been through this system myself, my own experiences are only peripheral.

Why humans like to cry

This is a random collection of thoughts that came after a talk organised by the Oxfordshire Branch of the British Science Association. It was titled ‘Why humans like to cry – tragedy, evolution, and the brain’ by Professor Michael Trimble.

Why even worry about this issue? Simple really. Animals have emotions and are capable of producing tears. But humans are unique in that they cry and produce tears emotionally rather than for biological reasons.

Women cry more than men at a ratio of about 5 to 1. This raises the question of whether this is for biological reasons (in terms of the way men develop or their brains are wired) or whether this is attributable to sociological reasons (such as societal views that make crying acceptable or unacceptable in particular circumstances or for people of different genders).
I think this is, for the most part, a social construct. That said, it may have arisen from perfectly defensible societal demands such as the fact that men in hunter-gatherer time had to continue hunting or growing crops even in the face of hard times and adversity, whereas women may have had more time to mourn and grieve so to speak.
What is more interesting, as was noted by Prof. Trimble, was the question of why the gender gap hasn’t been reduced if its source has been sociological. One would expect that societal views might change given the new circumstances. And yet, men are more likely to apologise for crying, more likely to cry quietly and in less discoverable places.

Undoubtedly, crying is very much a contextual activity. The perhaps obvious explanation for crying is that it is something triggered by emotions. Joy, sorry and bereavement can all be causes, in some instances injustice also triggers crying. More interestingly are instances where there is no prescribed or specific emotion that is easily identifiable, but rather the weight of a myriad of emotions that triggers crying.

Social Media at War

Not really a large collection of new thoughts, but certainly some interesting reminders (and a few new perspectives). The CCW seminar by went through some of the obvious facts about the growth of Social Media and trends in its use by security forces and in a military context. Quite a few of the people attending were a little skeptical of whether social media would really change the way wars were fought on the ground.

The Bin-Laden raid live tweeted (from turnstyle)

I can’t say I know much in that respect, but one fo the more salient ideas was the ability for competing narratives and messages from both sides of the conflict to engage on a more immediate basis to seek to influence the conversation. I have doubts over whether this has an impact more broadly speaking, but in terms of shoring up existing supporters I can certainly see how it might work. Of course, the powerful thing about social media is the ability to instantly and continuously tailor the message depending on the feedback and sentiment that are gauged over the social network.

There was some discussion in the presentation about the psychological aspect of social media, and how social media engaged with the more emotive and spontaneous side of our minds than, say, the cognitive side of things. I would hope that doesn’t mean my ability to be rational is diminished, but I guess the point was more that social media could better influence and connect on an emotional level whereas traditional filtered media was more cognitive.

For me, perhaps the biggest point to take away was social media’s capacity to build groups and coalitions that are limited to intersections over unions. So while old forms of coalitions and groups had greater inertia, perhaps from how they are constructed, and thus are better conditioned to creating a union of interests amongst people, social media allows people to move around with greater flexibility, leading to the creation of coalitions or movements that can at times be stronger, but are also more likely to b based on the intersection of interests rather than a union of them. Which is better? I’m not sure.

5th February 2013

Gangster Squad

One of the last things that I managed to do in my winter holidays was to get a preview showing of Gangster Squad. Good timing too because I left Hong Kong the next day. The late showing in TaiKoo was also close enough to home for me to actually get around logistically.

Strangely enough, I found some of the usually annoying movie trailers at the start quite interesting. I think The Great Gatsby is going to be a cool movie, although I should probably read the book first so as not to ruin the original. Who knows. I am not a big fan of Jack the Giant Slayer. Somehow the film just doesn’t feel right, and way too fake. Man of Steel is questionable for me too. Just not sure about another Superman film. It doesn’t seem to add much by way of storyline either. It might just be the trailer, but I wouldn’t mind skipping it.

Preview tickets for Gangster Squad

As for the Gangster Squad, it was a good typical guns blazing movie. Lots of shooting and fighting. It actually managed to maintain the suspense most of the way through. The story-line was a bit thin, but the scenes were cool enough for you to wanna see what would happen.

My problem was with the ending. Given that it had to be rewritten following the batman-shooting in the US, I can’t say whether this new one was better or worse. I can see why they decided not to release the film after the batman shooting of course. But the ending in the hotel lobby didn’t work for me. It was too fake for someone to rent out the entire hotel. Quite fake how it was entirely empty. I mean even a powerful guy has limits in basically taking over a hotel with no staff or anything else. And the slow-mo shot of them running around the table was cool, but was ultimately useless.

That said, the ultimate ending scene was good. Slightly fake but less so and a fitting ending I think, having O’Mara beat up Cohen.
Probably not something I’d pay to go watch, but not a bad movie overall.

Another 4 years

With academics and a lot of other things consuming my time, I’ve spent less time caring about the 2012 US elections. Myself aside, international support for Obama doesn’t seem to be significantly lower than in 2008. If the world were the electorate, it seems likely that Obama would have been elected in a much greater landslide.

From Editions Sources du Nil

But though the results are the same, 2008 and 2012 differ in one massive way: The reason. In 2008, there was genuine support and enthusiasm for Obama internationally. This was reflected by his overseas trips that did much to help Obama build up his brand. 4 years on, it was understandable given the domestic situation that Obama would be less focused on foreign affairs. But it was also notable that direct support and enthusiasm for Obama was much lower. It wasn’t that people didn’t want Obama to win, but rather than they were less likely to support him directly. The 2012 support stemmed more from a general dislike of the Republican candidate, or candidates.

This might well have been the unfortunate result of Obama’s own doing. His rock-star status and breath-of-fresh-air-appeal in 2008 created some very high expectations of how he would perform. Once in the White House, reality struck, limiting his capacity to do many of the things had argued for. The Arab Spring, the rising tensions in Asia and Europe’s slow disintegration probably didn’t help the case.

As it stands, though non-Americans are happy for Obama’s re-election, there is doubtlessly less enthusiasm for his presidency. Not that it really matters, given that the events on the ground are forcing Obama to ‘pivot’ to domestic issues.

Jumping off the cliff, or pushed off the cliff

So the world didn’t end on the 21st, but if one listens to the scary sounding ‘fiscal cliff’ new reports, then you might be forgiven for thinking that the world might end on the 31st anyways. This is hardly a perfectly accurate depiction, although there will most certainly be serious repercussions of going off the cliff. More interesting are the ‘ongoing’ negotiations in Washington to attempt to find a solution. Long framed as an Obama vs. Boehner battle, I say the ‘negotiations are ‘ongoing’ because they are hardly happening, especially with the holiday season.

Obama’s key demand, and perhaps the biggest sticking point, is his demand for a higher tax-rate on the rich. Republicans traditionally baulk at anything that looks remotely like a tax increase; a trend certainly prolonged by Grover Norquist. This made it a pleasant surprise when Boehner tentatively agreed to higher tax rates, giving up the common position of only making the rich payer more taxes through closing tax loopholes.

Source: Huffington Post

Hoping to strengthen his negotiating hand, Boehner tried to pass his now infamous ‘Plan B’, which would raise taxes only those with an income of 1 million or more. Obama’s definition of the ‘rich’ was considerably broader and approval of his Plan B might have made it easier to push for the level to be set at 1 million rather than £250,000. Sadly for Boehner, his Plan B failed horrible, imploding in his face like an egg in a microwave. Republican votes failed to materialise, doing the very opposite by highlighting his weaknesses rather than his support. Read about how it all unfolded.

Now negotiations are on ice as the respective players head off on holiday. So what’s next?

Fabricating a HK Tiananmen incident?

I don’t count myself amongst the pro-government camp when it comes to politics in Hong Kong. I generally side with the pro-democracy camp. But regardless of political affiliation, one cannot but help be concerned by the anti-Chinese bias of many western media companies, particularly those in the US.

Take for example NYTimes’s coverage of the protests against national education and their not so subtle attempt to link these protests with the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989:

The protests in Hong Kong, a former British colony returned to China in 1997, have been somewhat similar to the much larger Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989: large numbers of students have flocked to public spaces in front of government buildings, staging sit-ins and, in some cases, hunger strikes.

All true, thankfully modified by the phrase “somewhat similar”. Now here comes the more subversive bit:

A history of National Education in Hong Kong

I’ve been rather reluctant to comment on the National Education furor in Hong Kong that anyone with even half and eye on the news will have noticed. (It has been well noted that even foreign and international news organizations have covered this issue.) This is because (1) as a general rule, I prefer not to make hasty comments in the heat of any particular issue and (2) because I frankly have not had the time nor interest to truly inform myself of this issue to the level that I feel is required for any comment to be made.

An aspect of this is the need for context which is so often easily lost in the heat of the moment. So before we all blow our heads off on this issue, let’s consider the events that have led up to this point, a neat little summary from the SCMP.

The demise of democracy: Part 5 (Conclusion)

For the past half century, democracy has been the political ideology. The cold war saw a concerted effort to promote democracy, led by the USA. Since then, more and more countries have moved towards some form of democracy as the specter of communism was beat back. The idea of everyone’s opinion being considered in an equal and fair manner, without prejudice, captured the imagination of millions around the world. The recent spate of political upheaval in Arab stats, dubbed the Arab Spring, was heralded as the dawning of true democracy in the Middle East. But reality presents a far more murky picture, one where democracy’s success and future are both called into question. Here’s an examination of where democracy stands across the world.

CONCLUSION

This is the conclusion to a series of posts titled The Demise of Democracy. Click to read The West (USA), The West (Europe), Part 3 (Asia) and Part 4 (Middle East).

The first thing I should probably note is that this is neither an academically rigorous series nor even a very complete one. There are numerous countries whom have not been included, all of whom could have been excellent case studies: the troubles in India, the situation in Russia not to mention Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. You are equally correct to note that the countries and events selected to illustrate the argument necessarily mean that many others are omitted, including ones that would run counter to the idea that democracy is on the down. And perhaps it would have been better to include more countries and a greater number of regions. I’ll leave that for another time.

Don’t get me wrong, these posts were not intended to be a verdict on democracy. I myself do not believe that democracy as an idea is necessarily in decline. I certainly would agree that democracy is under threat in many areas of the world. But that isn’t to say that democracy is a bad idea, although there are aspects of other political systems that I respect (particularly some level of authoritarianism), it seems clear that the most viable form of governance for the foreseeable future is some form of democracy.

So if this wasn’t meant to mark the actual end of democracy, what was the purpose of these posts? By connecting the dots together on various problems that democracy around the world is facing, these posts will hopefully have helped you to actually question whether democracy is a preferable system, rather than just accepting its inevitability. More importantly, provided that you actually agree that democracy is the more preferable system of governance, this will hopefully keep us on our toes and prevent us from become complacent about the development of democracy around the world.

Paul Lau

The demise of democracy: Part 4 (Middle East)

For the past half century, democracy has been the political ideology. The cold war saw a concerted effort to promote democracy, led by the USA. Since then, more and more countries have moved towards some form of democracy as the specter of communism was beat back. The idea of everyone’s opinion being considered in an equal and fair manner, without prejudice, captured the imagination of millions around the world. The recent spate of political upheaval in Arab stats, dubbed the Arab Spring, was heralded as the dawning of true democracy in the Middle East. But reality presents a far more murky picture, one where democracy’s success and future are both called into question. Here’s an examination of where democracy stands across the world.

Previously: The West (USA), The West (Europe), Asia

MIDDLE EAST

Hardly the home of democracy, the recent series of regime changes in the Middle East have led to the purported ‘Arab Spring’, the rejuvenation and flourishing of democratic ideals in the Middle East. While the protests were certainly against existing regimes, it is difficult to say conclusively that they were calls for greater democracy.

Egypt’s elections now means it finally has a truly elected leader of the country. But the government is interestingly enough, filled with many old faces from the old regime. A struggle for power between various factions in the Egyptian political system continues, all the while at the expense of the livelihood of many Egyptians.

Libya successfully deposed of Qadaffi, but now finds itself split, whether along geographical or tribal lines. Attempts to create a democratic system have been faced with countless difficulty. Whilst many people opposed the Qadaffi regime, there is yet little evidence that there is large scale support for a new democratic system. If anything, many groups and communities are now merely turning to other forms of rule.

Iraq, after years of fighting, remains mired in ethnic clashes that make the democratic system unworkable. Pakistan’s democratic system continues to face uncertainty, not least because of continued threat from extremist groups, but also from the discord between various military, civilian, rural and ethnic factions.

Iran, despite it’s obviously undemocratic regime, still manages to maintain its economic interests and continues to develop its nuclear program, despite the continued attempt by western countries to pressure the regime through economic means. For a government system lacking in democracy, Iran is not doing too badly.

Next time: Conclusion